For Better or Worse
by Wonder Woman 1982
Summary: Bella Swan is an up-and-coming fashion designer from a small town in Washington. When her new beau asks her to marry him, she must go back to her small hometown and get her husband to sign the divorce papers. She's so sure her happiness lies in New York, but what happens when she visits the past? Kind of a "Sweet Home Alabama" feel. M for obvious reasons. AH Jasper and Bella.
1. Chapter 1

_**This is just something sweet and cute, I hope with a little bit of lemony goodness. Not long chapters. I own nothing but my ideas.**_

_**BPOV:**_

I wasn't looking forward to going home and talking to my sort of ex-husband. I say sort of, because that stubborn ass wouldn't sign the divorce papers. I had asked him repeatedly over the years, even had my Police Chief father serve him the papers. He wouldn't sign them.

I'd moved out of podunk Forks, Washington right after high school and never looked back... well, not right after high school. I had gotten married the day after graduation, just like our parents and the whole town had come to expect from the star quarterback and the cheer captain.

I had dreams bigger than Forks and nobody, especially Jasper Whitlock was going to stop me. I moved all the way out to New York City and attended college as a fashion major. My work was up and coming and had been recently featured in a very reputable magazine. They called my designs things like amazing, hot, the next big thing, etc. I was on top of the world and to make my big night even bigger, my new beau, Jacob Black had proposed to me. My life was nearly perfect. Nearly, because stupid Jasper Whitlock won't sign the divorce papers.

My best friend, Alice, was currently trying to convince me to go give him a piece of my mind.

"How bad can he be, Bella? Honestly?" I sighed.

"You've never met him, Alice. He's lethal. Tall, lean and muscular at the same time, blonde hair, green eyes, tanned, and a southern accent that makes panties burst into flames." I shake my head. Jasper was a beautiful man. "He's the main reason I haven't seen my parents in 10 years. I've always flown them out to see me." I admitted, sadly.

"Bella, that's just insane. Did you ever stop to think that if you had just went out there already, you wouldn't have to worry about this? Plus, you could've went home and visited your parents more often." She scolded.

"He's the hometown hero, Alice. Everybody loves him. That's not an exaggeration. My parents nearly disowned me because I left him. He's like God around there." I grit out.

"Well, I wanna' meet this guy. I'm coming with you." She tells me and I feel better.

"Yeah? You'd leave the big city to help a girl out?"

"Listen, I don't know what kind of town you grew up in, but I'm from a small town, too. I wasn't always the social butterfly you see before you." We laugh. "Maybe there will be a sexy country boy out there for me. You said it was big for hunting and fishing." I nod. "Well, I'm sure I can find someone to occupy my time."

I went to my lawyer's office the next morning, had more papers drawn up and made arrangements to fly back to Forks. I was leaving the wonderful bright lights and big city for rainy gray Forks.

_**~FBFW~**_

"Hey, Bella, how was your flight, sweetheart?" Jacob coos into the phone. I sigh, so glad to hear his voice.

"Pretty uneventful, handsome." I smile. He was handsome. Jacob is a corporate lawyer at his father's very prestigious law firm, Black and Uley. He was practically royalty in big circles. We'd been set up by a mutual friend in the city and haven't looked back. Well, he hasn't. I've been looking over my shoulder for the last ten years.

"That's good to hear. Have you gotten to see your parents, yet?" He asks and I tell him I haven't, but that I was on my way there. He didn't know the real reason why I was in my hometown.

"Well, Alice just pulled up with the rental, so I will call you back when I'm settled in at the house." I sigh to him. "I love you and I miss you."

"Same here, baby. I'll talk to you soon."

Alice rolls her eyes. She's not necessarily a fan of Jacob's. She thinks he's too much of a pretty boy. He tells her she's a country bumpkin and she calls him a city boy jackass. This is why I've lied to him about my past and my family.

He thinks that I live in a huge house outside of Forks and that my family is very well to-do. He believes that my mom came from money and that my dad is the mayor, which stemmed off of me telling him that my dad as thinking of running for mayor some day. Wires got crossed and here we are. It's not that I don't love my parents dearly, they're just set in their ways and they still hold out for me and Jasper to work out.

Our drive to my childhood humble abode was filled with laughter and stories of all of the mischief that I got into when I was younger with the goofball friends that I left behind when I left the Pacific Northwest. The drive was the exact same I'd made dozens of times before when Rosalie and I would go out of town to visit her sister at UW.

Nothing had changed in the last 10 years and I didn't know if that made me happy or sad. Old lady Cope's greenhouse was the exact same as when I left, I.S. + J.W. Still spray painted on the side. Alice saw that and I had to explain to her that was how Jasper had proposed to me.

"_Come on, Bells." Jasper shouted excitedly as we jumped out of his old beat up truck that his daddy left him when he passed. We had to park at the road and go through the field at old lady Cope's greenhouse. _

_It was the summer before our senior year and I was so ready to get out of this town. I wasn't going to be some small town statistic, never moving away and having a house full of babies while my husband worked at the saw mill. _

_When we rounded the corner of the greenhouse, in big bold purple letters, Jasper had written I.S. + J.W. Laughing, I shook my head and turned to look at him. There he was, down on one knee. My heart was beating wildly in my chest for two reasons._

_One, I didn't want this. I wasn't going to be held down to this town, and I knew Jasper would never leave it for any reason. He loved it here._

_Two, I wanted it. I'd loved Jasper since I could ever remember. There wasn't a future without him in it. _

_So, I sucked it up and looked him in the eye and said, "Old Lady Cope's gonna' skin you alive, Jasper Whitlock." _

_He laughed out loud and shook his head. "Nah, she already saw it when I did. She said you better say yes or she's puttin' a buckshot in my ass." He cleared his throat and proceeded on with his proposal._

"_Now, I know I ain't the most charming or intelligent man on the planet. Hell, I ain't really a man, yet. But I can tell you that I've loved you all of my life, and I'll continue to love you beyond that. Isabella Maria Swan, would you do me the extraordinary honor of being my wife?"_

_Now, how do you say no to something like that?_

"That Jasper sure seemed like a sweet guy." Alice sighs. "Why'd you leave him?"

"It's a long story that I don't wanna' rehash right now." I tell her as I pull into the driveway of my old home.

My mom comes barreling out of the front door to greet me and dad stands smiling at me from inside of the garage. Where my mom is all flighty and carefree, my dad is reserved and quiet. I get the carefree spirit from my mom, but I get the wanting to keep to myself thing from my dad.

"Sugar plum, come gimme a hug." My dad bellows from the garage and before I can say a word, my feet are pulling me in the direction of my father while tears start in my eyes. "I've missed you." He says before he kisses my head then ruffles my hair.

"I miss you, too, daddy." I mumble into his shirt. He smells like cologne and pipe tobacco. I loved that his smell hadn't changed.

"Well, Isabella, you know that all of this missing each other could be avoided if you'd come home every once in awhile." My mom scolds as she helps Alice out with our bags. I roll my eyes, which she doesn't miss. "Don't roll your eyes at me. All I'm sayin' is, while we enjoy visiting you in New York, it just isn't our kind of place. And airplanes fly both ways."

We finally get our things loaded into my old bedroom and head downstairs to eat dinner. I'd missed my mom's home cooked food. Sure, New York had all of the best eateries around, but nothing beat home cooked, especially my mom's peach cobbler.

Conversation flowed around the table and, of course, my parents took to Alice just like the other few times they'd met her. Mom talked about hooking her up with Edward Cullen and I rolled my eyes. Mom tried to hook everybody up with Edward. I have no idea what he was like these days, but back then, he was a hardcore stoner and a firm believer of stickin' it to "The Man". Dad was agreeing with mom and the last I knew my dad wasn't not his fan in the slightest.

"Oh, Bella, honey, I thought you should know that Jasper lives out by the Res these days, so don't pop by Mama Jane's. She'll be glad to see you, but he won't be there." Dad tells me and I nod.

I go to sleep that night with a clear plan in mind that would get Jasper to sign the divorce papers and then I would be on the first plane back to civilization. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.

_**So... any thoughts? A lot of people are going to think this reminds them of Sweet Home Alabama, and I got my idea going after watching it the other night and decided to put my own spin on it. Like, I said, I own nothing. The plot is somewhat similar, but it's definitely going to be different. **_

_**Anyway, love it? Hate it?**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter two... I still own nothing... and here we go.**_

_**BPOV:**_

_Jasper walked with me along First Beach gripping my hand tightly. I'd just accepted his marriage proposal and I was looking at the engagement ring his mom had once wore and she'd handed it down to Jasper for the time when he'd ask me to marry him._

_I couldn't refuse his proposal. He'd looked so handsome with the sunlight bouncing off of his face and shining off of his dirty blonde hair. His eyes twinkled with excitement and well up with emotional tears. I'd never seen Jasper Whitlock cry in all of my days, but today he let a few tears leak out. Said that somebody must've been around cuttin' onions._

"_I'm gonna' make you happy, Bells. I promise." He tells me as he kisses my hand. He proceeds to tell me how he got my father's permission and how scared he was. He told me that a big deciding factor was the pregnancy scare we had gotten a couple of months back and he knew then that he was ready to step up and be a man, so what's the point in waiting?_

_I knew he wanted to make me happy and I was mostly happy with him. However, he was content to stay in this sleepy town and I needed more. I needed to find myself. I just hoped that when I was ready to leave, he would come with me._

I woke up with a start, like somebody had thrown a bucket of cold water on my face. I hadn't thought about the day that Jasper proposed to me in quite sometime. It kind of hurt to think about. I didn't outright hate the man. He gave me his reasons for wanting to stay and in the end, I wasn't enough for him to keep our marriage together. We grew bitter with each other and out of pure stubbornness he refuses to sign the divorce papers. That's all going to change today.

Stretching as I get up, I notice a text from Jacob telling me he loves me and that he can't wait until I'm back home. It's funny how a person can have two homes, I suppose. I don't miss the slow pace of living here but I miss the people. I look down at the phone and see that Jacob had sent me a picture of him making a silly face. I had to laugh. He was beautiful, funny, charming, thoughtful, and intelligent. Jacob Black is the perfect man. I'm very lucky to have him by my side.

"So, when are we going to get those papers signed?" My sidekick asks me.

"WE aren't going. I'm going to go by his house by the Res and see about getting these papers signed." I hold up the packet and she cocks an eyebrow.

"Just how do you know where the house is even at?" She questions.

I clear my throat and look at the floor. "He bought the house with some money his dad left him when he died. He was in the process of fixing it up when I left. It was supposed to be my dream house. I'm sure it looks like shit." I shrug. It was true, Jasper had tried to turn a run down two bedroom house into something extraordinary for me, and that's what drove the point home with me. He wanted to settle here and I didn't. "Look, I'll be back in just a bit. I'm hoping it doesn't take long. I'd like to get back to the real world soon."

Clearly not bothered, Alice flips the tv on and watches an episode of Maury while I hurry out to the car and make my way down the road. Some old school Garth Brooks comes on the radio and I find myself singing along to it.

"Shameless" was a song that Jasper would sing to me all of the time and I would swoon every time he sang it to me. Here I was singing it word for word, on my way to his house, and the fact made me just shut the radio off entirely. Thinking about the good times we had once had wouldn't do any good right now.

I pulled into the drive and my mouth dropped open at what I'd seen. What once was a run down shack of a house, there now stood a two story cottage with a wrap around porch and beautiful ivy along the side with the most beautiful garden I'd ever seen. It looked like something A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'd always told Jasper that this was my ideal. My eyes watered for a moment until I looked down at my left hand and reminded myself why I was here.

Hopping out of my car the dog on the porch started barking at me. Great.

"Shut up Brutus" "Shut up Bear"

There he was. Shirtless, muscles clenching as he ran a towel through his hair, jeans slung low around his hips and that V of muscle just peeking at me.

"Wait a second, you said Bear. What happened to Brutus?" I asked.

Jasper looked at me sadly before he cleared his throat. "He uh, he died when you left. Heartbroken I suppose. What are you doin' here? Shouldn't you be off prancing around The Big Apple or something like that?"

I scoffed, keeping my eyes trained just on his face. "I came here to get you to sign the damn divorce papers, Jasper David Whitlock."

His eyebrows raise as he chuckles and shakes his head. "You're gonna' full name me? For what?"

"You know damn good and well why I am so pissed off. I've sent you these exact papers repeatedly and you won't sign them. Why is that?"

I follow him up onto the porch and watch as he walks up to the door. "Have you spent any quality time with your mom and dad yet?"

I scoff. "What's that got to do with anything?" He cocks an eyebrow. "Well, if it's any business of yours, and it isn't, I had dinner with them last night."

"You go home and spend some more time with your parents. I know you, Bella Whitlock. The ink wouldn't even be dry on the paper before you'll be on the first flight outta' here." He shakes his head. "These papers aren't going anywhere and well, neither are you, for that matter." Before he closes the door he smiles. "I'm sure I'll be seein' you around. We'll talk soon." Then he locks the door and closes the blinds.

However, it occurred to me that I still had the spare key on my keyring. I don't know why I'd never taken it off, but there it was. I was just hoping he hadn't changed the lock. I tried it and it worked like a charm. His surprised face when I walked through the door was almost comical and I would've laughed had I not been pissed off.

"Sign these." I shove the papers towards him and his eyes darken.

He picks up the phone and dials a number. "Yes, I'd like to get a deputy out here as soon as possible. Jasper Whitlock. Yes ma'am." He hangs up the phone and he smirks. "They're sending Emmett down here, so I reckon you should go ahead and make yourself scarce. Breaking into someone's home is a major offense."

We stood arguing for about five minutes before Emmett McCarty starts knocking on the door. "Well, if it isn't Hells Bells!" He grabs me and twirls me around in a cirlce before sitting me down. "Lookin' as pretty as ever. How have you been?" He asks as he takes a seat next to me on the couch that I had currently occupied.

"Trying to get this dick to sign the divorce papers already. I'm trying to get married soon and I can't very well do that if I'm still married to this guy." I jerk my thumb toward Jasper and see him get up and walk out the back door, slamming it hard on his way out.

"So, you're getting married, huh?" Emmett asks after a few seconds of silence. "That's real nice. I thought I heard Rosie say something about seeing your picture on the computer with some lawyer guy." He nods as if that were just the entire answer.

Jasper, in all of his glory, comes back in, slamming the door again. "Emmett, I want her arrested." He asks why. "Because, she's breaking and entering. That's gotta' be some kind of felony or something."

"I used my key." Emmett looks at Jasper. "It's true. He gave me this key the day we got married. I've had it ever since."

"Well, looks like all this is, is a lover's quarrel. I'll let you all get back to it." He winks at me and I smile. But, before he gets to the door, Jasper has to open his stupid mouth.

"Hey, Em? Isn't there some outstanding warrant for the person who drove your mom's tractor into the pond?"

"Say it ain't so, Bells." Emmett begs and I slump my shoulders and put my wrists together, letting Emmett cuff me. "Your dad's gonna' be pissed." He whispers in my ear and chuckles as I nod in agreement.

"Enjoy prison." Jasper smiles cheekily at me and I raise my hands up and flip him a double bird while Emmett bursts into laughter. They're both assholes.

_**~FBFW~**_

"Bells, I cannot believe you got arrested." My dad sighs as he drives us both home from the station. He was out on a call when dispatch let him know that his own beloved daughter had been thrown in the slammer for the crime of driving Mrs. McCarty's tractor into the pond... 15 years ago.

He asked how it went besides going to jail and I told him that Jasper had basically created the house that I'd wanted my entire life and had lived there by himself.

"Bells, that man is probably still in love with you. Hell, he hasn't even dated since you left. 10 years is a long damn time to go without someone." He tells me and I feel bad for Jasper. I did this to him.

"Dad, I'm not letting him get away with throwing me in jail. That's just insane." I tell him.

Once I pick my car back up from the devil's house, I go pick Alice up and run to town. I have to make a withdrawal from my bank account and needed to buy a few necessities.

Forks Community Bank was literally the only bank in town. There wasn't a fancy national brand bank for miles. "Well, hey there, Bells!" Rosie greets as I walk in.

"Hey! Your husband is an ass." I smile at her and she laughs.

"I cannot believe he busted you for that. Hell, I thought he knew about it." She shakes her head and taps her perfectly manicured nails on the desk. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I need to withdraw some money out of an account." I inform her and go looking through my purse for my bank info.

"Do you want yours and Jasper's joint account?" A lightbulb went off inside of my head. She sees the look and smirks. "I take it you didn't know you all had that joint account, still, right?" I shake my head. "Well, see, our policy here at the bank states that if you're still married you have to sign your name off of the account. So, what's his is yours." She winks and proceeds to tell me just how much money Jasper has saved over the last 10 years.

"Holy shit, Bella. He's loaded. I can't believe you cleaned him out. He's going to kill you." Alice exclaims as we make our way through the furniture. His interior left something to be desired. I had a plan and I was going to fix his wagon soon enough.

_**~FBFW~**_

I just waited like a good little housewife for Jasper to enter the door. He pops in and looks around, eyebrows raised. "Hello, honey. How was work today?"

I hand him a beer and he's still looking around the house. "What did you do?" He asks as he frantically searches through the cabinets and drawers and settles on the new refrigerator. "What's with all this chick food?"

"Just being a good wife, dear." I smile sweetly at him and he shakes his head.

Popping open another beer and smirks. "It's okay. Spend your money, I don't care." He tips his head back and I let him have it.

"Don't you mean, OUR money?"

I see his eyes widen with the realization and he starts to choke on his beer. I pound on his back and he jerks away from me.

"Please tell me you didn't spend all of that money, Bella." He truly looked terrified.

"Every dime." He looked like he was going to puke. "However, I'll put it all back with interest in you sign the papers."

He looks torn. "Was being married to me really that bad?"

"No. You were great. It was just this place that I couldn't deal with." He takes the papers from the table and looks 'em over then up at the clock.

"I'll look at them later. Right now, I've gotta' get ready for my date. You remember Jessica Stanley, right?" Irrationally, I was jealous. I didn't like her. She'd always tried to get her hands on Jasper, ever since we were kids.

"Yes." I grit out. "I know who she is."

He brightens up considerably, seeing my anger at the situation and switches out shirts. "Lovely. Well, I'll be at Mama Jane's bar tonight. I'll give those papers a once over tomorrow sometime."

Conceding, I leave him to get ready and try to figure out why the hell I was so mad at the fact that he and Jessica were going on a date. What did I care? I was getting married soon.

_**So... I'm loving this story so far and I hope everyone else able to get into it, as well. I really love Jasper and I think he fits into this perfectly. **_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Only one review since I've started, but that's okay. I did manage to get a few followers, so I'm pretty excited about that! And... here we go.**_

_**BPOV:**_

I thought about why I was so worried about why Jasper was dating Jessica, but then I decided it didn't matter. I had Jacob waiting in New York and I had a mission. I would get him to sign the papers and put all of this behind me.

When I pulled up Alice was still glued to the TV, looking bored as ever. "Hey, did you get it done?" She asked.

"No. However, he did freak over the money I spent. He said he has a date tonight so he'll look over the papers in the morning." I tell her as I flop down on the couch.

"That's a really pretty picture." Alice tells me and points at the only wedding picture I had taken with Jasper. I was in my mom's hand-me-down gown and Jasper was in a button down and jeans. We'd gotten married at the Lodge and he was half lit. He ended up puking everywhere by the time we got to the reception. I didn't even get to dance with my husband.

"Ugh. That wedding was a disaster. He was bombed by the time we said 'I Do' and ended up puking and passed out at the bar. I should've seen it then as a bad omen." I shook my head.

"You looked terrified in this picture." She says, a sad look on her face.

"I was 18 years old. I was getting tied down to a man in a small town that I never had any intention of staying in. It's all in the past now." I tell her with a nod of my head.

After awhile she looks at me. "So, is there anything to do in this town?"

"Uhm, yeah. There's Mama Jane's. It's Jasper's mom's bar. It's a big hit around here. They always play pretty decent music and the prices are really cheap. Like, dirt cheap compared to New York."

"Let's go. I'm tired of being stuck in this house." She says as she huffs.

"Damn, Alice. I'm sorry. I've been so worried about getting this stuff done that I never thought about you being bored by yourself. Let's get all gussied up and we'll go out." I tell her and with that she squeals and claps, in the way only she can.

A couple of hours later, we're decked out in casual, yet stylish clothes. I'm worried about running into too many people from my past, but I promised Alice that I would show her a decent time while we were here.

"Bella, this place is so cute!" Alice gushes as we make our way to the door. There's pickup trucks and ATV's parked all over the place and it looks like a couple of people even rode in on horses. Only in small town America, I suppose.

As soon as we walk through the door and the little bell above it chimed, everybody looked up and I was met with the sweet voice of Mama Jane Whitlock. "Do my eyes deceive me or is that my daughter-in-law that just walked through the door?"

I gave her a genuine smile and walked over to give her a hug. I truly did love Jasper's mom. She was a beautiful woman with a big heart and she understood when I told her that I needed to get out of this town.

"Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, Mama. I'm here for a few days and decided to show my friend Alice, here, what small town livin' is really like." I tell her, my proper accent temporarily forgotten.

"It sure is nice to meet, you Miss Alice. What do you ladies want to drink? It's on me, tonight." We order a couple of Long Island Iced Teas and make our way to a table in the corner.

"Well, shoot. Never thought I'd see your pretty face again, Bells." The voice tells me before I can sit down. I look up and Peter and Mike make there way over to me.

"No. No damn way." I point my finger at them but before I could get out of the way, the two oafs have me smooshed between them.

"Bella Sandwich!" They yell and the bar laughs like crazy. Alice, the traitor is laughing with a look of pure delight etched on her face and I flip her off.

"Let the girl breathe, would ya?" I hear him say. "I'm sure they don't act like that all the way up in that big city." Jasper looks like sex on legs. He's got a tight black t shirt paired with low slung jeans and cowboy boots. He licks his lips as he eyes me from head to toe and smirks. "Wouldn't want her to break a nail or something."

Everybody laughs again and I'm beyond mortified.

"Jesus, Bella, that's him?" Alice asks as we sit down. I nod. "Holy hell. He's gorgeous. How did you manage to tear yourself away from him?" I shrug. "Seriously, that man is like sex personified." She takes a look around the room and fans herself. "Hell, I don't know what you guys feed the locals around here, but there's not a bad looking man in this bar."

It's true. While they mostly may be backwoods country folks, the men in this town certainly could turn a few heads.

"They're not so bad. And stop ogling Jasper. He doesn't need his ego inflated." I tell her and she rolls her eyes.

"Hey, Bells!" Emmett booms as he comes over to the table. "Sorry about throwin' you in the slammer. They'd been looking for you for the last 15 years. You're lucky my mom wasn't all kinds of pissed and dropped the charges." I nod, having already forgiven him for it.

"It's water under the bridge." I tell him.

"You got that right. How bout you shoot a game of pool with us?" I look over to the table and see they're getting ready to set up a game.

"Bella, I think that would be fun." Her eyes are glued to one, Edward Cullen and I sigh.

"Fine. We can at least watch them play. I don't think anybody wants to hand me a cue with certain company around." I tell her and Emmett laughs loudly.

"Don't let him get to you. And just a word, Jessica Stanley is lookin' extra trashy this evening. She heard you were back in town, so she's as desperate as ever. Hell, Jasper hasn't even looked at her until you came back." He gave me a pointed look so I smirked. Jasper wanted me to be jealous.

I adjusted my boobs and made my way over to the table, watching Jasper ogle my chest the whole time. "So, Isabella, why are you even here?" Jessica's snotty voice rang out.

"Thought I'd come see my husband, your date." I tell her like it's no big deal. The guys and Rosalie are laughing behind me and Jessica looks like she kinda wants to rip my face off. "But, it's seriously cool, you guys look pretty great together. Jasper must be into the cheap hooker look."

"Why you!" She yells and starts towards me.

"Do you remember that time she handed you your ass, Jess?" Edward asks her and she stops dead in her tracks. "Yeah. That time was over Jasper, too. So I'd just suck it up and sit over there like the good little lap dog that you are."

Conversation flowed easily, plenty of trash talk between Jasper and I and I was three sheets to the wind before too long. "Do you remember the game, senior year, when Jasper ran back that TD against Port Angeles and cinched the game?" Peter asks and I roll my eyes.

"How can I forget? That's the night I got knocked up." I raise my eyebrows, realizing I said too much.

"Jesus, Bella." Jasper yells at me. "Why don't you just tell everybody all of our dirty laundry. Shit." He wipes a hand over his face and everybody looks on in silence.

"Oops." I shrug. "By the way, that wasn't the reason we got married so early. I miscarried almost immediately." I sigh.

"I think you've had enough, Bella." Alice tells me gently, pulling away from her conversation with Edward.

"No, Alice. He wants to act like we're still some married couple and that he can win me back. Well, he can't. I love Jake, not you, Jasper. Don't you get it? I was miserable here!" I start to cry and Jasper sighs and grabs my purse, looking for my keys. "What the hell are you doing?" I sob as I reach for my purse but he pulls it away and throws the keys at Jessica.

"Drive her car to her house, please. I'll follow behind. She's in no condition to drive." He tells her, completely ignoring me.

Alice gets in with Jessica to give us some privacy after my melt-down. Jasper forces me into the cab of his truck where I sit there and cry quietly. I may have been drunk, but I knew had humiliated myself and Jasper. He was just too good of a man to admit it to me.

"I'm sorry." I whisper to him and he sighs and shuts off the radio. "I shouldn't have said anything like that."

"Bella, what's done is done."

I sniff and look at him. Really look at him. He looked tired but he was still beautiful. "You still have the prettiest eyes and eyelashes I think I've ever seen on a man."

He chuckles but keeps his eyes on the road, saying nothing.

"You're a good man, Jasper Whitlock. I'm just sorry that you fell in love with me." I start to mumble, drifting toward sleep. "You could be happy right now."

_**JPOV:**_

I can't say that I wasn't upset when Bella had spilled her guts about the baby that never was. I had grown to love it as soon as she found out and then a month later, she fell down the stairs at the house and miscarried. It was a hard time and that started things in motion for her to leave.

Looking at her, asleep in the passenger seat, I can't help but think this is how it was supposed to be. Ever since we were kids, I imagined Bella and I growing up, getting married, her being a teacher or something and raising babies, and getting old. That was my idea of Heaven, if it exists.

I parked the truck, got her out and carried her, bridal style into her bedroom. Rushing back down to the truck I grab the divorce papers and an ink pen.

"Jasper?" Alice asks me as I walk in with them in my hand.

"Yeah?" I ask as I look them over, my hands shaking.

"If you love her, fight for her." I smile sadly.

"That's what I've been doing for years. Why do you think I've never signed the papers before? I was trying to get my life together, be something she could be proud of, a business man or something, but she went and found her a fancy lawyer. I can't compete with that." I shake my head and sign my life away and lay the papers next to her pillow, so that would be the first thing she saw when she woke up.

"See you later, Alice. It was very nice to meet you." I tell her and head out, saying a quick goodbye to Charlie and Renee.

Jessica was waiting in my truck, fuming that I had taken so long. "Took you long enough." She spits out and I give her an incredulous look. "I don't know why you're so damn hung up on her, Jasper. She left and never looked back."

"Yeah, I know. Just drop it, okay?" I tell her and she huffs in her seat.

"I just don't get what the big deal is about her. She was a big deal when she lived here, she's a bigger deal now that she's a big city girl and it's the biggest deal that she came back to town." I can see the jealousy on her face, plain as day.

"Why are you even worried about it? I took you out on a date, not her." I tell her and roll my eyes.

"Who do you think you're fooling, Jasper? You looked at her like she was something to eat. The only time you really acknowledged me was when you asked me to drive her car back here. I know we won't ever be anything, but just give up on her. She's given up on you."

_**~FBFW~**_

_**BPOV**_

My head was pounding and I'm pretty sure I had some kind of growth on my teeth. I rolled over to find that something crinkly was under my face.

Trying to shake off the haze I was in, I rubbed my face and picked up the papers. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I realized that Jasper had signed the papers. Different emotions ran through me, but the most prominent one was sadness.

Jasper had been a big part of my life for a lot of years and now it was done.

"Hey, your mom said that there was a festival going on in town this weekend. We should go!" Alice tells me, in her too loud voice.

"Whisper, Alice." I tell her as she hands me a bottle of water and two Tylenol. She looks at the papers on my lap and sighs.

"He looked devastated last night; like his whole world was gone." She sighs and I try to smile at her.

"Well, I can officially move on with my life and so can he. No sense in him being miserable." I tell her and she shakes her head.

"I wanna' go to the festival, so get your ass out of bed and get motivated." She tells me and I agree.

"Yeah, I need to ship these papers out to my attorney so they can be finalized and I can proceed with the wedding of my dreams, to Mr. Jacob Black." I smile widely and hop out of bed, a new spring to my step.

I was on my way to happiness. Finally.

_**Okay, so I put a little bit of JPOV in there. He obviously still loves her, but wants her to be happy, even if it's not with him. What do you guys think?**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**I'm so sorry for the delay in updates on this story. Life gets in the way and I'm remodeling my place, so obviously my attentions have been elsewhere. However, I'm grateful for the handful of followers I've got so far. **_

Alice and I looked the part of small town girls; her with her little sundress and sandals and me with my skin tight, worn out jeans, button down shirt, cowboy boots and my long hair done up in a loose braid. The festival was only about a 15 minute walk from my parents house, so we hoofed it instead of wasting the gas.

"I hope Edward likes the way I look." Alice sighs wistfully. I shake my head and laugh at her. She's very smitten with Edward and judging by the look on his face last night, he was pretty taken with her, too.

As we're walking, my phone rings. "I've got a surprise for you, beautiful." Jacob coos into the phone and I smile.

"Is that right?" I laugh.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll be there tomorrow evening." He says so cheerfully that I can picture how big his smile must be. My smile falls straight off of my face and I almost go into panic mode.

"What? Why?"

He huffs. "Bells, I need to meet your parents and I wanna' see where you come from. It has to be a wonderful place for such a beauty, as yourself, to come from there." I roll my eyes at his cheesiness. "Plus, father says that I should get to see what kind of people your family are."

I loved Jacob, but I hated his father. He freaked me the hell out. William Black believed he was above everybody else and he had aspirations for Jacob to go into politics. I wasn't a political type of person and my love of the law stops at my father.

I cleared my throat. "So, you're going to be coming to Forks, huh?" I ask. He agrees and tells me he loves me and would see me soon.

Groaning, I slide my phone back into my pocket and Alice looks at me with concern. "What's going on?"

I explain to her that Jacob decided to ambush me with a visit and that I had no idea how I was going to convince my parents to pretend to be snobs.

"Maybe you should just let him meet your parents as they are. It's not your fault he thought they were rich snots. Yeah, you didn't exactly say anything otherwise about it, for your own selfish reasons, but he's gonna' find out eventually."

"Ugh. You're right." I tell her and then I'm riddled with anxiety as I think about what's going to happen tomorrow when Jacob finds out I'm not the rich girl he thought I was.

"This is so adorable, Bella! It's like something straight out of a movie or a romance novel!" Alice squeals as we come up to the entrance of the festival and buy our passes for the day.

"Hot damn, would you look at that ass!" Peter whistles from behind me and I hear a loud smack and see that Charlotte has knocked him upside his head with a wink in my direction. "Damnit, woman!" He yells as he rubs his head.

"You let Jasper hear you talkin' about her ass like that, and he'll be sure to kick yours." She laughed and I felt my cheeks blush a deep red.

"Now, why would they wanna' go talkin' about your ass, for?" I shiver when I feel Jasper's breath on my neck as he whispers in my ear.

I turn around and can't stop myself from letting my eyes roam over his body. He's wearing a white t-shirt and holy jeans with his cowboy boots and the way his clothes clung to his body...

Alice elbows me in the ribs and I'm brought back to reality. "Thank you for... you know..."

He smiles sadly and shakes his head. "Not now. We'll talk later, okay?" and I go to protest and he puts his hand up to stop me. "You owe me a talk." I nod and agree.

The group of us walked around and I found myself sticking to Emmett and Rose for the most part while Jasper walked ahead with Edward, Alice, Peter and Charlotte.

"He told us what he did." Rose said low enough for only me to hear. "Last night, I mean." I nod and sigh. "That man up there? He loves you more than his own life. While it's been good having you here and hanging out with all of us, please don't play with his heart."

I look at her and my eyebrows raise in shock. "I wouldn't do that."

"Maybe not intentionally, no." She smiles softly. "When you left, he was a shell of himself. Hell, is still is, I suppose. But he's gotten better over the last 10 years and I don't wanna' see him reverting back to the old Jasper."

"Was he really that bad off?" I ask and I fear her answer.

Emmett spoke up. "When you left, you took his heart with him. His heart belongs to you, B. Whether you want to or not, you own that man up there. There's nothing he wouldn't do for you. As a matter of fact, did you know that he started-"

He was cut off as Rose elbowed him in the stomach, hard. "What the hell woman?" He gasped and she gave him the look of death.

"Not your story to tell, moron." She gritted out and nodded up toward Jasper and he held his hands up in defeat.

"I'm just saying, maybe if she knew all of the lengths he went through to get her back she'd open her eyes a little and see what she's got in front of her." He gestures toward Jasper.

I clear my throat. "What's done is done. He had 10 years to try and change my mind, so..." I let it drift off and Rose nodded as we stopped in front of the grand stand where a local band was playing some classic rock and country covers.

Alice, Rose, Charlotte and myself all danced like a bunch of lunatics before we headed toward the refreshment stand. We all ordered an iced tea and I stopped to admire the glasses that we were drinking from. "Hey, I wonder who makes these glasses? I could have swore Mama Jane had some just like it." I trailed off, admiring the crystal work. Rose changed the subject to my impending nuptials between Jacob and myself and we were interrupted when the band started slowing down their set and everybody coupled up and started to dance. I was left to stand awkwardly by myself until Jasper reached up and scratched the back of his neck.

"Hell, Bella, I don't suppose you wanna' dance?" I breathed out heavily and shrugged. "Well, alright then. Try to keep up." He smiles and I shake my head and follow him onto the makeshift dance floor where he wraps his arms around me and we start to sway.

Smelling his familiar scent, feeling his muscular body pressed up against me, hearing him hum in my ear, I couldn't help the overwhelming feeling of sadness in pit of my stomach and I felt myself tearing up.

"I feel like I'm losing a part of myself." I whispered brokenly and he squeezed me. I choked back a sob and I could hear his breathing stutter. "You were my best friend in the whole world, Jasper Whitlock and I thought you would've followed me wherever I went in the world. I really thought you believed in us enough to go wherever I needed to go."

"Bella-"

"Why didn't you fight for me?" I bawled out and he pulled back looked into my tear-filled eyes with his own teary ones staring into my soul.

"You think it was easy? Not following you to New York was the hardest thing I ever had to do, Bella." He choked out. "Bella, I've loved you my whole life and I've always believed that it was gonna' be you and me. Bella, I had nothing to offer you when you decided to leave and I damn sure refused to be a made man that you drag behind on your coattails. I was a 19 year old kid straight out of high school who went to the local community college and worked night shifts at the lumber mill and made shit out of glass for a hobby. How was I supposed to compete with the bright lights of New York?"

"You didn't even try!" I wailed. "You just let me go. You loaded my bag into the car and let me go without another word and just told me you wanted me to be happy."

"Because it's true! No matter how miserable I am or I ever was, Bella, your happiness is what's important to me. You are what's important to me. If this Jacob dude is what's going to make you happy, I've got to let you go and hope that I made the right choice. But I swear, Bella, if he hurts you, there's not going to be an entity in this world strong enough to stop me from kicking his ass."

I giggled a little and sniffled. "Thank you."

He sighed and rested his chin on my head. "I've gotta' go." He says with a kiss on my forehead and steps away.

"What? Why? We're getting along for once, Jasper, let's just enjoy it before I have to go back to New York."

He smiled softly. "I've got a big meeting tomorrow in town and I need to rest up. Enjoy the rest of your night, Bella."

With that, he squeezed my hand which apparently had a direct line to my heart and walked away. Alice came up to comfort me and Rose flanked my other side. I didn't realize I had tears streaming down my face again until Rose reached up and wiped them off for me.

_**So... What do you think about Jasper's declaration? Leave me some love. I'll try to update sooner rather than later. I've got a vacation coming up, so I'll have some spare time!**_


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